On Staying in a Hostel

Before I start this blog, I want to introduce “my friend” who is with me here.  She insists on me using her name rather than continuing to hide her identity.  This is Hannah.  She’s been one of my best friends ever since I can remember, and she’s primarily to blame for me being in Germany right now.  I’m encouraging her to do a guest blog for me, but as of yet, she isn’t up to the challenge. 

That being said, last weekend, I had to stay in a hostel. 

I say had to, but that isn’t entirely true.  I had other options, but I came on this trip to be independent, so despite the fact that I was somewhat of a nervous wreck about it, I took the plunge and booked a hostel.

At dinner on Thursday, we had several guests, one of which was an American girl – who happened to live in Tennessee, as well…small world – who told us about a nice hostel in Munich.  Hannah and I had been discussing this as my option for the weekend, but I couldn’t get a booking, so I had to search for a new hostel on my own.  Most of them were booked, so I found one with somewhat lower ratings, but I gave it a shot.

I left the farm on Friday and was dropped off at the infamous Pfaffenhausen station – infamous because we have never actually made it there despite it being our destination every Sunday thus far.  I arrived in Munich and headed to my stop.  I knew that I couldn’t check in for a couple of hours, so I took my time wandering around the area to get my bearings.  Eventually, I checked in and put my luggage in the “luggage room” – read: room where everyone freely puts their stuff, not securely by any means – and headed out.  After walking around a bit, I made my way up to my room.  Having no roommates as of yet, I took the opportunity to have a nap only to be awoken by house keeping, gladly, I might add, since the room was kind of a mess. 

Later, I continued my nap and awoke to find two new faces in the room of six beds.  I had already made plans for the night, so I headed out to meet two of my friends.  When I arrived at the hostel early the next morning, all the beds were full – or so I thought – so I knew was in for some introductions when I woke up.  Later in the evening and finally having met everyone, I was comfortable staying there.  I had my own locker where I could keep my valuables, and I felt safe in the room despite not knowing the five other people with whom I was sharing it. 

After sleeping for quite some time and spending some much-needed alone time at the river, I headed back to the hostel.  Two of the roommates were in the room when I arrived, and they asked me to join them for dinner.  A man from India who was living in France, a woman from the U.K. who had been traveling Europe for 2 months, and I headed out to dinner.  I could only laugh at the funny situation – and at the sound of my mother’s worried voice in the back of my head.  We ended the night quite calmly on the roof of the hostel just chatting, joined by two of our other roommates. 

Overall, my first hostel experience was a good one.  While it wasn’t what I expected, I learned a few things that I think will help me the next time around:

1.  Everyone is nervous.  Hostel life isn’t exactly natural, so someone has to break down the barriers and start the initial conversations.  While it is a bit intimidating, cool people stay at hostels, and you will only meet them if you talk to them.

2.  Cleanliness is not next to godliness.  Let’s be real, the hostel wasn’t the cleanest place I’d ever been, but it also wasn’t the dirtiest.  Did I know how many people had slept on the sheets before me?  No, but I was paying a very small amount of money to stay two nights, and I survived.  When traveling, it’s best not to be too picky.

3.  People are very different.  Every time someone travels, it gives the opportunity to get outside of the normal comfort zone.  Is it sometimes uncomfortable?  Yes, but it’s in these uncomfortable times that you learn about yourself and about others and how to accept them.  My discussions this weekend ranged from the importance of graduation parties to drug use in Europe.  While I couldn’t always contribute much to the discussion, I was happy to listen to another point of view and to develop community with people that I may never have spoken to otherwise.

When I was sitting on that roof with four of my five roommates, I felt like I belonged to something.  While we didn’t make up a secret handshake and I’ll probably never see any of them again, there was a feeling of community there that I haven’t experienced here yet.  It was something organic and freeing, something that my trip had been missing. 

So, I’m glad that I did it.  I’m glad that I’ve stayed in a hostel.  Initially, I was - ok I’ll say it - I was scared.  But, now that it’s over, it’s something that I learned from and really enjoyed, and it’s likely something that I’ll do again – sorry, Mom.